And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.

Matthew 17:22-23

And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Mark 9:30-32

And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples, Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.

Luke 9:43-45

My brain has turned to spaghetti.

This is the result of reading all the various arguments from those defending their position on when exactly Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected; and exactly how long He was in the grave. I thought I had a good grasp of the details but…

Then I thought, I must be missing something. I know that it is important to understand that the Bible does not contradict itself but is it truly profitable for fellow Christians to be debating one another over this detail? Yes, and no.

Yes, Bible Study and discussion is important. DEBATE is not.

However you explain it, there must be three days and three nights in your explanation. And Jesus has to be out of the tomb before sunrise on Sunday morning. It is important to harmonize the scriptures and understand that Jesus did in fact say that the sign of the prophet Jonah was the only sign to be given (Matthew 12:40). However, when we seek to reconcile this by the most popular approaches, we need to give space for other views that still fulfill the meaning of Jesus’ words.

What is most important to understand is the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Let us not forget that when we seek to defend our explanation of timing. The most glorious event in the history of man took place. And it took place on the first day of the week!

The Apostle Paul did not concern himself with explaining the timing. He focused on the most important thing:

Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Romans 4:25

Jesus died for our sins. Jesus was raised from the dead which declared that God had accepted Jesus’ sacrifice and we are counted just by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Let us all rejoice in the fact of our risen Redeemer!